THE Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) has decided to switch to online financial transactions to make direct payments to its cricketers at all levels. This decision will bring an end to cheque payments to not just Virat Kohli and his team, but also domestic players, including men and women cricketers at senior and junior levels. As per the prevailing procedure, the board sends the players’ fees to the state associations, which then hand over the cheques. But there have been reports of discrepancies at the domestic level. The CoA’s decision to directly transfer the money into the players’ accounts comes after recent reports of state association office-bearers withholding payments to cricketers.

“All players will have to submit their KYC details and money will henceforth be credited straight into their accounts. There have been many instances of misconduct in the past. But we are only aware of the ones that have been reported. What about those which haven’t come under the spotlight? By making the payments online, we can at least be assured that all the players get their due payment and they don’t have to rely on their state associations,” said a source in the BCCI. For instance, Assam Cricket Association (ACA) secretary Bikash Baruah was suspended last year for “alleged dereliction of duty and misconduct with players”. Following a probe conducted by the ACA disciplinary committee, 61 cheques issued by the BCCI to state players were reportedly recovered from Baruah.

Similarly, a team which qualifies for the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals gets Rs 5 lakh from the BCCI, which is to be distributed among the players. But according to reports, the players often don’t get the money.